Luis Caffesse
Admin
I think the thing people (in general) need to protect themselves from is exstinguising completely the "happy mistake". Often times I'll be rushing down to Cafe or DSLR General and will spot an interesting thread title and will join the convo. What I have trouble with is reengaging with that thread once I leave for a day or two. Signing on and having something linked to my profile that shows me what threads I'm currently "involved" in would help me personally with thread maintainance -- and could also help with the original OP's issue that says everyone *hangs out* only in specific threads. Cafe and DSLR General are usually the easiest places to track my more informal threads.
You can subscribe to threads that you find interesting - so that you get notified when new posts are made, and you can easily find the thread again. Go to the 'Thread Tools' menu at the top of any thread and you'll see the option.
The other options would be to simply go into your profile and look at your recent posts (if it's a thread you posted in in the past few days you should be able to find it rather quickly.... unless you have the post frequency of Barry Green).